Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Research Publications
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ItemOpening the HECS market(APN Educational Media Pty Limited, 2007)Radical reform of HECS could be at the centre of a bold new higher education sector, says Dr Geoff Sharrock.
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ItemThe idea of the university(Centre for Independent Studies Limited, 2004)In their book on how Melbourne University has ‘lost its way’, John Cain and John Hewitt provide a rich snapshot of an institution in transition. They document a host of dissonances afflicting Australian universities generally, and show how confusing recent changes have been for many who work there. This is the book’s main strength. Its weaknesses are that it is prone to errors of fact and interpretation; and as a critique of the present situation, it rounds up the usual concepts and targets the usual suspects. In consequence, it offers no convincing solutions.
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ItemPerformance management and cultural difference in the Australian university(SAGE Publications, 1999)A key recommendation of the Higher education management review (the Hoare Report, 1995: 86) was that every Australian university should ‘phase in a comprehensive performance management system for both academic and general staff’. This recommendation received very mixed reactions, due in part to the widespread failure of earlier attempts to introduce schemes with managerialist overtones in universities. A Monash University study (Paget et al., 1992: 3) found widespread ambivalence about the role of appraisal in tertiary institutions. Managers wanted a summative (judgemental) approach, while staff wanted a formative (developmental) approach.
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ItemAfter Copernicus: beyond the crisis in Australian universities(National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), 2007)There’s a received view of the troubles of academia which lays the blame on a new corporate culture of soulless managerialism. Geoff Sharrock isn’t convinced. He argues that critical scholars are often ill-placed to be able to understand their own predicament. And many of the problems of the sector lie in its incapacity to adjust to the changed world of knowledge-creation in which we live.
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ItemRethinking the Australian university: a critique of Off Course(Taylor & Francis Australia, 2004)This paper critically examines a recent book about the University of Melbourne. It uses this as a case study to explore traditional conceptions of the university in the Western tradition, and aspects of the Australian debate about government policies and institutional strategies.
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ItemWhy students are not (just) customers (and other reflections on Life After George)(Taylor & Francis Australia, 2000)Hannie Rayson’s new play, Life After George, has struck a chord with universities. In a few deft, resonant scenes we see George, the left-wing professor of history, arguing with his ex-wife Lindsay, now dean of the faculty. Facing a funding crisis, Lindsay is moving to close the French department, and replace existing courses with vocational, income-generating courses. She says students want jobs when they graduate, and that as clients they should get what they want. She argues for links with the corporate sector, to generate income. George is outraged. Students aren’t customers, he says. We can’t just give them what they want. They don’t know what they want until after they’ve heard what we have to tell them. We should be producing educated citizens, not corporate fodder! And I won’t work with those corporate bastards! All they care about is business!